Raf Simons and Adidas Are Still Making Great Weird Sneakers

The Belgian designer isn't at Calvin Klein anymore, but you can still grab his gear.

Late last year, it was announced that Raf Simons and Calvin Klein would be officially parting ways. The news was a bit of a shock considering Simons’ beloved status, but less of a surprise given the company’s interest in selling jeans and CK-branded undergarments at an ultra-high clip. Either way, for diehard fans of the Belgian designer (and those who love broad-shouldered blazers), the news was a bummer. The good news is that Simons is still going strong, particularly via his sneaker partnership with Adidas: two new artful high-fashion sneakers are hitting shelves this week.

The first of the duo is Replicant Ozweego, a bulky running trainer that Simons has been riffing on since 2013. It was one of the earliest iterations of the chunky high-fashion sneaker, well before Balenciaga’s Triple S was even a sketch on paper. (We once dubbed Simons’ Ozweego the “Godfather of the Ugly Sneaker.”) This season, the designer and Adidas have given the shoe a trippy multi-tone gradient and devious cutout details. The giant sneaker was already a bit of a weirdo to begin with, and adding rainbow colors into mix only ups the stunt-worthy factor.

The other shoe is the Detroit Runner, a forward-looking sneaker that blends minimalist silhouette with futuristic motifs like ultra-arched sole and rubber toe cap. Much like Ozweegos, Simons decked out the Detroit Runner in a number of eye-catching colors: vibrant red and lime green, royal blue and cherry red, and a slightly mellower silver and black. Springtime usually calls for a bold use of color and Simons certainly knows this.

If you haven’t still made the plunge into owning a pair of bizzaro sneakers, either of these would be a great place to start. (Trust us: wearing the Ozweegos with a pair of flowy, cropped lightweight trousers is a guaranteed A+ springtime fit.) We’re curious to see what Simons gets into next, but now that designer is no longer at Calvin Klein, let’s hope that means more time to make delightfully off-kilter sneakers like these.